UNDP supported anti-corruption campaign reaches Imo State

May 17, 2017

Self-Help Development Facilitators’ (SEDFA’s), a grant beneficiary of the European Union funded anti-corruption project, has conducted several activities in Imo State aimed at supporting national efforts in the fight against corruption. Through its “Ask the People Initiative” the organisation has, since late 2016 organised an 8-week radio phone-in-programme during which jingles in local languages have been played and a 4-week television series - both have been effective in empowering Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and community members with necessary information for them to be actively involved in the anti-corruption crusade.

The themes of these initiatives have centred on how to bring back the people to the centre stage of governance to enable them participate and contribute to good governance, as well as elicit public support in the fight against corruption.

The organisation also trained 53 representatives from 25 CSOs in Imo State covering various topics including; Understanding Corruption, Anti-Corruption Advocacy Skills, Whistle Blowing using Tracka, Characteristics and Role of Anti-Corruption Torch-Bearers, Anti-Corruption Budget Advocacy Skills and The Ask the People Initiative Roadmap.

A hands-on demonstration of the use of the whistle-blowing platform known as “Tracka” www.tracka.ng developed by a local CSO, and endorsed by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) was conducted. The initiative emphasizes that community members must become both watchdogs and whistle-blowers, and must work to strengthen relationships with national institutions mandated to curb corruption in the country.

Under the supervision of SEDFA’s project team, the trained CSOs participated in community interventions, deploying the skills acquired from the Action Learning Workshop. They met with community leaders and members, held sensitization meetings and using SEDFA’s “Ask the People Initiative,” strategy, tracked projects captured in both the Federal and State budgets for 2016, within the designated communities. The community intervention exercise covered 151 communities within 14 LGAs in Imo State. A total of 166 projects were tracked and status reports were obtained with relevant pictures. The CSOs have started uploading the status of the tracked projects on the whistle blowing platform (www.tracka.org).